Yippee! We Made It!

A couple take in a rare bit of sunshine, at
the Café
Orbital near Luxembourg.

Only 51 Issues To Go Until 2001

by
Ric Erickson

Paris:- Monday, 3. January 2000:- Last week
almost blew my cools. It was a case of don't think, just do
it. The situation caused by the 2nd storm smashing into
France rated a daily update to the Au Bistro column.
Readers who followed this and wrote, are truly
appreciated.

On Thursday, Café Metropole Club members at the
meeting wanted to know 'how to see' New Years in Paris. I
put in my two centimes' worth, but listened to their ideas
too. I wanted a solution to how to 'cover it all' with
minimum effort, because any effort was going to be
considerable.

The weather was pretty crummy all week too, so this
caused problems with getting the photos that go
with the usual columns. New Years posters numbered one, and
what was left was one of the poorest collections of the
year.

A huge number of emails from readers drifted in and took
a long session to keep them from getting overwhelming. In
the last couple of days more have arrived to replace
them.

A Friday view of police baricades, hidden on
the Pont Bir-Hakeim.

If my neighbors watch my shutters for their opening
times, they probably think I am some sort of playboy who
sleeps until noon in bare feet. If they see the light
filtering through the vents at 02:00 and 03:00, then I want
to know what they are doing, up so late.

With these lopsided hours, a hazard is not eating
correctly. By this I mean not eating regularly and enough.
It is very easy to say, 'just one more item, one more
little job.' When it is three hours later and there's still
no fuel, then keeping on is self-defeating. Tanking up is
hard to manage.

But these are small problems compared to the agony the
residents here have been going through and a lot are still
having. Paris was as good as unscathed by the two wind
storms. Out in the countryside, devastation has been
immense.

Try thinking of Christmas and New Years with candles for
light and fireplaces for heat. Temperatures out in the
country have been below freezing most nights.

Radio France-Info said this morning that a half-million
households are still
without electricity. EDF, France's power supplier, has been
turning the lights back on at the rate of about 100,000
households per day. Day after day.

In case you were
worried - the lights are on in Paris.

Before they can put a power pole back up, they have to
clear away the trees that knocked it down. Some of this is
done in snow and sub-zero temperatures. It's a good thing
chainsaws run on gas.

As soon as London's New Year party wound down, the Brits
packed up the big generators used for it and have shipped
them to France. Power technicians from 20 countries have
come to France to help - including a crew all the way from
Canada.

Meanwhile, out on the western beaches, thousands of
volunteers gave up their holiday period to comb beaches and
collect large amounts of horribly ugly oil sludge - while
another group has been trying to rescue birds covered in
the filth.

Other people spent their time pushing mud and ruined
furniture out of their flooded and wrecked houses.

And somehow - not everywhere of course - somehow some
people managed modest New Years parties by candlelight. In
towns ruined by wind, water and oil, inhabitants came out
at midnight on Friday and blew their horns and set off a
couple of rockets. It's 2000 after all.

So it is. While getting showered by Champagne near the
Etoile very early on Saturday morning, I realized that all
the lights were still on - on the Champs-Elysées at
least. In the next few days, more light will come back
on.

The Boo-Boo of Last Year

Your 'Christmas Where You Are' letters to Metropole
totalled 10 and not 'XX' as I wrote here last week, which
was last year. There were many other little boo-boos in
last week's issue - just as there are always a few in each
week's issue. Thank you for either overlooking these or not
writing to whine about the minor ones.

Important
Dates

First up is Orthodox New Year on Thursday, 6. January.
This is followed by the 'Year of the Dragon' which is on
Saturday, 5. February.

La Grande Parade de Paris

This parade, held now for the past eight years on New
Years Day, is not exactly like the Rose Bowl Parade in
Pasadena. For starters, Paris is not southern California.
Here it is winter damp and on Saturday there was
drizzle.

This parade is an imported affair. Parisians do go out
to see it but when it was held on Montmartre, it
was forgiven anything it seemed to lack. After all, it
had Montmartre for a background. But tramping around the
Rue Lepic is not an easy jaunt on stilts.

Here is one
of the French marching bands in Saturday's 'Grande
Parade.'

This year's parade on the 'Grands Boulevards' showed the
ambitions of the organizers to be 'grand,' as well as the
ambitions of certain people in Paris to stick a '2000'
label on anything that looks like a freebie for the
folks.

Being one of these, there I was on Saturday, opposite
the Porte de Saint-Denis, on the boulevard of the same
name.

This old city gate has been renovated and no longer
looks as if it is covered with black soot. First the gate,
then the boulevard, and most likely the property developers
are already busy buying up the neighborhood.

The participants formed up by the Porte Saint-Martin and
at 14:00 started their trek to the Madeleine. This advance
was halted opposite the city gate, to receive the blessing
of the mayor, which was duly noted by the folks as they
opened their umbrellas.

First to come along was a marching band, in
unwinter-like blue and white. Flag wavers - red flags! -
reminded me this is a favorite route of the May Day
parades.

White-flour and milk-fed pom-pom girls came by. I was
annoyed because they did their turn down the street
a bit and all I got was their march-past. The drizzle had
gotten a bit more serious too.

After a group from the Ardèche, the notables of
Montmartre arrived on foot and wearing their black robes.
These are very much in the forefront for Montmartre
occasions, but seemed dwarfed by the size of the wide
boulevard.

New Years Day 'men of the hour' were
Paris' street cleaners. Note handy broom.

The problem with the 'Grande Parade' seems to be that
there is no special reason for having it. It is not
followed by any football game. When the parade is over, you
go home. Since it is New Years Day in Paris, when you get
home you do not watch football on TV either.

I decided, after it was seriously drizzling and I was
being poked in the head by umbrella prongs, that I'd had
enough parade. I snuck around narrow back streets, and when
I was a block away, I saw the top of the métro's
first engine go by. I almost went back.

Organizers say one to two hundred thousand lined the
route through Paris; while police say it was more like
20,000. These 'Grande Parade' people should talk to the
Techno-Parade people to get some ideas.

Holiday
Circuses

At this time of year, it seems to be traditional for the
circus to be in town. Four of them were here and four of
them got their tents blown to shreds by the storm. These
have regrouped to form one unit, and they are carrying on
at the Pelouse de Reuilly out at Vincennes. You've got
until Sunday, 16. January to catch their act. Info. Tel.:
01 43 44 09 09.

Winter Sales

This is a very serious subject that I think I've
forgotten to mention previously. This year, for some
administrative reason which is totally unclear,
the traditional winter sales do not start today.

Instead they will begin about 10 days from now; possibly
on Thursday, 13. January or on Saturday, 15. January. This
was announced before Christmas.

Saturday's re-opening
crowd of gawkers at Beaubourg. The entry line is in the
background.

With the winter sales so long after Christmas, people
who traditionally waited until early January to do their
Christmas shopping, will be sore. This late date will allow
other people to catch the winter sales in London without
fear of missing out on anything in Paris.

On the other hand, those who do buy in London may not
bother with Paris at all, so the 'administrative reason'
for the date switch may do nobody any good. Except me. I
need a winter coat and it still looks like winter to
me.

Café Metropole Club's 12th Session
Re-Play

The 12th weekly meeting of the 'Café Metropole
Club' ran off quite modestly, as we shared the club's area
at La Corona with a bunch of civilians last Thursday. Read
all about it on last week's 'Club 'Report''
page.

No 'Scene' Column This Week

Many events in past Scene columns are still actual or
being performed. For the coming year, organization seems to
be better - except here - and I have already received a
preliminary program for Paris. I can't face it, even if the
photos are done. Note that the Pompidou Centre - Beaubourg!
- is open again and first reports say it is vastly
improved. This alone ought to keep you amused for a day or
two. 'Scene' returns next week.

Happy New Years To
All

If you celebrated New Years, I hope you had a good and
safe one. I had a good time on the Champs-Elysées,
even if it seems as if I'm moaning about everything all the
time.

Last week I wrote, 'There will be an issue 5.01, but my
head may be somewhere in the south seas when I do it.' My
head is not exactly in the 'south seas,' but it does wish
it were out to lunch.

Thanks to the absence of any Y2K 'bug' you are reading
this. I do not have to publish any disclaimer about my lack
of responsibility over things I do not control, and you do
not have to read it. It's win-win for us all-round.

This Was Metropole One Year Ago:

Issue 4.01 - 4. January
1999 - The Café Metropole column was titled by
its still-perplexed 'Ed' - 'Euro' Overload Worse than Y2K
'Bug.' Does anybody remember the 'Euro?' 'Au Bistro' had
'Paris Style At a Discount.' This issue had two features,
entitled 'The Unhistorical Parc André Citroën'
and 'On Top of High Places and Montmartre's Parade.' The
issue also had 'Paris' Scene' - Life After New Year's.'
There were four 'Posters of the Week' and Ric's
Cartoon of the Week was captioned 'Happy
Euro-Day.'

This Was Metropole Two Years Ago:

Issue 3.01 - 5. January
1998 - The Café Metropole column still had the
endlessly boring subject of the weather on its mind, in
'The Big Wind.' Sound familiar? The 'Au Bistro' column was
headlined 'Crash Investigation Springs to Life.' This issue
had two features, entitled 'The Winter Sales are ON Now!'
and 'One for All and All for the Big One' which was by M-R
O'Rahilly. Somebody wrote an email about 'In the Louvre's
Egyptian Wing.' I think it was the server-lady. There were
four'Posters of the Week' and Ric's Cartoon of the Week was
captioned 'Guess How Much.'

The Tour Eiffel Countdown
to 31. December 1999:

For obvious reasons, this silly countdown ended with the
last issue of 1999. The countdown lasted 1000 days, and the
Tour Eiffel's gizmo that kept it going, conked out about
four hours before the end. Hundreds of thousands of people
were there to shout, 'Four, three, Two, ONE, ZERO! I
was on the Champs-Elysées at the time and I heard
shouting, but it wasn't from the Tour Eiffel. I haven't
decided yet what will replace this feature. Any ideas?

Thank you for reading Metropole in 1999, 1998, 1997 and
1996. You are invited to read all issues in 2000 too.